NFL
By: Melo Williams
The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team hosted an open team practice with media getting a close up view of the current 2025-2026 team.
After watching practice, it’s safe to say two things, Greg Gard and his coaching staff have continued to do well building their roster through both recruiting and the transfer portal and the Badgers will be very competitive this upcoming 2025-2026 season competing for a Big Ten title and a return to March Madness.
After the departure of most of the team, Wisconsin has a strong returning core with Junior John Blackwell who took a big leap in his sophomore season. Junior Nolan Winter who showed significant improvement in his second year. Redshirt Sophomore, Jack Janicki a returning player who provided defense and depth last season is expected to make another step in his growth this season. Riccardo Greppi, Jack Robison, and Isaac Gard will provide depth and experience for the Badgers.
TRANSFER PORTAL:
Greg Gard and his coaching staff has done well in the transfer portal identifying players that addresses team needs, that’s a fit to the Wisconsin way of doing things, and can make an immediate positive impact making the team better.
First, it was AJ Storr two seasons ago, last season it was John Tonje, who became an All-American and 2nd round draft pick by the Utah Jazz in the 2025 NBA Draft.
This season early on it appears as Nick Boyd, a standout point guard from San Diego State, Andrew Rohde a versatile guard from Virginia, and forward Austin Rapp the reigning West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year will be major contributors to Wisconsin’s offense and defense.
Senior forward Elijah Gray from Temple and senior guard Braeden Carrington a transfer from Minnesota will also add to the Badgers depth.
Nick Boyd a 6-3 guard last season with San Diego State, Boyd earned second-team Mountain West Conference honors as he led the Aztecs in scoring with a career-best 13.9 points per game while averaging 3.9 assists per contest, Boyd also averaged 3.9 rebounds per game while leading SDSU to the NCAA tournament. Boyd authored a pair of 20-point games last season, scoring 23 against Gonzaga and 24 vs. Boise State.
Boyd will be a great addition for the offense. Boyd is a quick fast lightning guard who can get baseline to baseline very fast similar to how John Wall was when he starred at Kentucky. Boyd is also a 3 level scorer that can score off the dribble and many other ways.
He’s best when he’s playing pick and roll because he’s a shooter, very shifty getting defenders out of place blowing right by them. I can see Nick Boyd leading the Badgers in scoring and assists because he will be setting teammates up which Gard’s offense is great for exploiting defenders that can’t defend that well.
When it comes to Boyd playing defense, Boyd has the physical attributes to play a lot of on ball defense because of his size and his willingness to get after it defensively. I believe Wisconsin will have one of the top backcourts with Blackwell and Boyd.
Andrew Rohde a 6-6 small forward averaged 9.3 points. 4.3 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game while starting 26 of 30 games last year at Virginia. His 2.4 assist/turnover radio ranked fifth in the ACC while his 4.3 assists per game ranked seventh. The guard shot 43.2 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from beyond the arc. Rohde had 14 games where he collected double-digit points, including a season-high 17 points against Florida State on March 4, 2025.
Rohde brings scoring with a strong ability of scoring from deep having one of the best 3pt FG% in college basketball. With having experience playing both the shooting guard and small forward positions, Rodhe will give the Badgers plenty open space for the bigs to operate down in the paint. He also has playmaking abilities attacking down hill hitting the open man.
Austin Rapp a 6-10 forward, Rapp averaged 13.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks last season for Portland while collecting WCC All-Freshman Team honors. A native of Melbourne, Australia, Rapp is set to become the first Australian-born player in program history.
At the open practice Rapp played well. He reminds me of Andrew Bogut, another former Australian big man that played many years in the NBA and eventually won a championship with the Golden State Warriors.
Rapp possess a lot of the same skills that Bogut did with the ability to stretch out defenses on offense with his ability to shoot the three point shot at a high level. Rapp also has a strong ability to make plays because of his ability to make passes out of the pick and roll or pick and pop.
Rapp can also hold his own when playing defense. He has the physical size to be able to play in the post as well when Winter has the advantage of another similar to Michigan’s twins towers last season. That’s one of the advantages having two skilled big men that is versatile on offense having the ability to shoot and make plays.
Braeden Carrington a 6-5 guard, Carrington spent his first two seasons of college basketball at Minnesota, before playing at Tulsa during the 2024-25 season.
Before transferring to Tulsa, Carrington played for the Golden Gophers in his home state of Minnesota. Carrington started 10 of 29 games as a sophomore, averaging 4.6 points in 21.0 minutes per game. His season-high came on the road against Iowa, scoring 18 points. He earned Academic All-Big Ten honors.
RECRUITING:
The Badgers brought in a promising talented 2025 freshman class which includes 4-star in state recruit, Zach Kinziger, 3-star Will Garlock, Hayden Jones from New Zealand, and Aleksas Bieliauskas.
Zach Kinziger, a highly-rated shooting guard from De Pere HS (HS) looked spectacular in practice during drills and 5 vs 5 competition knocking down shots from all over the court and defending holding his own against Nick Boyd.
Kinziger is an elite scorer with range that scores multiple ways and will provide the Badgers offense the perimeter shooting it will need after the departures of John Tonje and Max Klesmit.
Will Garlock, a 7-foot center from Middleton HS (WI) gives Wisconsin height, a traditional back to the basket big man that scores well in the paint, finishes strong at the rim playing above the rim, and plays well in pick and roll/pop basketball.
Defensively, Garlock will win dominate on the glass and will be a great rim protector. Garlock has potential to be one of the best bigs in the B1G in the future as a double-double rim protecting machine.
Hayden Jones a 6-foot-7 guard from New Zealand, has played for the Nelson Giants in the New Zealand NBL for the past two seasons. Last season, he averaged 2.9 points and 1.3 assists per game.
In February, at 17 years old, Jones debuted for the New Zealand men’s national team, becoming the fourth-youngest player to do so. He helped lead New Zealand to a fourth-place finish in the FIBA Under-17 World Cup, averaging 11.6 points and 2.7 assists per game, marking the highest finish by a New Zealand national team at a FIBA tournament since 2002.
Jones also served as team captain for New Zealand at the New Zealand Foot Locker U18 Nationals, earning MVP honors. Additionally, he registered 12.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game during New Zealand’s runner-up finish at the 2023 FIBA U16 Asian Championship in Qatar.
Aleksas Bieliauskas, a 6-9 forward from Kaunas, Lithuania, Bieliauskas played for Zalgiris II in the Lithuanian NKL. In 45 games during the 2024-25 season, Bieliauskas averaged 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 39.3 percent from 3-point range. He made three appearances for Zalgiris in Lithuanian’s top league, the LKL.
OVERALL OUTLOOK:
Wisconsin is looking like a team that can compete for a top spot in the Big Ten and potentially make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. With the combination of a strong experienced returning core with chemistry, experienced impactful transfers, a solid recruiting class, depth, and great coaching suggests that the Badgers will once again be a competitive force in the Big Ten as early rankings show Wisconsin as a borderline Top-25 team.
